A slate of beer-oriented pubs opened last summer and our arrival at one of them proved in vain.

There wasn’t a table to be had and the bartenders were apparently too busy to notice us when we bellied up to them. Our quest ended at another beer bar, this one an impressively renovated successor to the old, weathered and gritty Henry VIII Pub on Stephen Ave.

Some of the king’s old open-beam ceiling have been retained, as have the original brick walls, but the place is fully contemporary, with dangling metal beer kegs testifying to a sudsy pedigree.

I summoned a bottle of creamy, delicious Thirsty Beaver ale from Kelowna’s great Tree Brewing ($6.25) and we dug into a menu of mostly creative pub food.

One irreverent entry among the starters we couldn’t resist — the soup du yesterday — “always better the next day,” we were assured.

It was venison barley (cup for $4.50) that ate more like a stew, with a dense, wholesome goodness whose beautifully spiced, meaty flavour flowed delectably.

I attacked it with a fork while noticing the yesterday concept really works.

Our salad was the duck spinach ($17) that we quickly noted contained no spinach.

With an apology that they’d run out of spinach, our server promised a free dessert — a pretty good way of managing the situation. The salad itself contained plenty of moist duck meat, field greens, strawberries, yellow peppers and bacon bits — dressed in a tasty and tangy mint-lime dressing. Even without the spinach, it was pretty good, though small for 17 bucks. The flatbreads seemed a popular choice during our visit and these glistening pizzas looked highly appetizing as they paraded past.

We zeroed in on the beer belly ($14), which was simultaneously recommended by our host.

This was a simple and savoury pie, studded with red peppers and parsley and given a good garlic jolt.

It was also given a “beer syrup” treatment — a very subtle addition.

Diners are given a choice between six flatbread dips and we surrendered to another of our host’s suggestions — the jalapeno ranch ($1.75).

It was hard to detect the jalapeno, largely because there was no spicy heat, though our host insisted “the only ranch we have is jalapeno.”

But it was a minor matter, obscured by the excellent wild boar burger ($16) with which we opted for The Libertine’s homecut fries over soup or salad.

“It’s pretty gamey,” warned our host.

That proved of no concern with the sandwich of complex, flavourful bearing — sweetness supplied by a Saskatoon-rhubarb mead reduction offsetting the sharpness of asiago cheese.

And there was nothing deterrently gamey about the wild boar pattie, which was wedged within a pretzel bun with chopped iceberg lettuce.